Good Boy, Mike
by Charon the Sabercat
Summary: Mike always responded well to praise. All trained dogs did. Whoever held his leash held a lot of power, and the Burners learned that all in one disastrous, painful night.
1. Chapter 1

Good Boy, Mike

Disclaimer: Own nothing. The Terras are hard to write in a serious kind of situation because their methods are so comic-book-y.

* * *

"Yes! Texas is going to pound your face!"

"For the record," Dutch retorted, "You're only winning 'cause Mike and Chuck aren't playing yet."

Game night was going over beautifully. An idle week was usually a harbinger of doom for the Burners; Dutch had said as much. Texas mishearing it as "harbinger of DOOM" and breaking out the controllers was probably the best thing to happen to them all week. After cleaning and tuning the cars, organizing the tool closet, and emptying the fridge, the Burners were all on edge.

That was the lie Mike told himself, anyway. It was pretty obvious the only one on edge was him. He'd been through this process before, and he knew quiet days were a chance to breathe and rest and just hang with the gang and relax and he should just enjoy them for what they were. He could tell himself that all he wanted, but his body didn't listen. It wanted to move. He wanted action. He was ready to find a problem and grapple it, wrestle it to the floor, and break it.

Julie kind of snapped into relevance as she spoke. She and Chuck had been playing bridge against Jacob and Roth, safe in the little table on Mike's right, and he'd just taken for granted that she wasn't watching him. "Watch out for Mike, guys. He's getting twitchy."

He twitched when every head turned to look at him. "No I'm not."

Julie smirked. "It's okay to admit that you have a problem, Mike."

"It's your problem!" Texas turned back to the game. "One of you needs to give Tiny something to do until it's his turn."

Mike almost argued. His mouth was open to tell Texas off, right about to get out the first sound, before he thought a little on it. "... okay you know what? You're right."

Texas's shoulders shimmied in self-satisfaction. "You know it."

"I think Antonio's offer of free pizza is still good," said Chuck. Mike had nearly forgotten about it; they'd broken up a fight a few weeks ago without thinking, was all. "Can you pick it up if we call it in?"

"An excuse to drive fast and come home with free food?" Mike hopped to his feet. "I'm all over it."

A little group cheer went up around the room. He didn't contribute to the tussle over toppings or the debate over whether to pick up sides. Mike drank up their little "thank you"s and the broad smiles spreading across their faces. It soothed the itch in his spine. A firm pat against his back as he passed Jacob's seat reset him back into Happy Mike Mode. Just what he needed, like he was thinking earlier: a problem to solve and friends to make proud of him.

"I'll call it in when you leave," said Chuck. "It should be ready by the time you get there."

"Don't rush," said Mike. "I'm gonna take the long way there and enjoy the drive. Promise to book it straight home, though."

Chuck's shoulders rose and fell in a happy sigh. "Hot and fresh... you're the best, Mikey."

Texas worked the joystick of his controller with his chin specifically to wave back to Mike. "You're our hero, Tiny!"

"Appreciate it, man," said Dutch. "Can't wait to get you back on the couch so I can finally have a real challenge!"

"Enjoy your drive," said Julie. "And have fun. You deserve it."

"You're a good kid, son," Jacob called out as he grabbed Mutt's keys.

Their praise stuck to his heart all the way to Mutt. They roared in his mind right along with Mutt's engine, running loving paths through his thoughts. Praise from anyone affected him maybe more than he liked to let on. He'd seen Chuck blush and Texas preen after a compliment or two, but he seriously wondered if they felt as invigorated afterwards as he did. He felt like it showed on days like today. He wasn't just driving right now. He was spinning victory loops and taking hairpin turns at dizzying speeds, revving the engine and popping wheelies on the high roads, and all of it while on a mission. He was going to make his friends happy and Jacob proud, and nothing in the world was better.

It took him about an hour, but he made it to Antonio's. The parking lot was packed. He had to circle the building and park in the side lot by the alley. He got out of Mutt and got immediately bitten by an alley fly. The line went out the door and he had to stand and chat with some of Foxy's gang to kill time, which equated to about 20 minutes of wait. Getting to Antonio, he could out it would be another 20 minutes on his pizza, since Chuck had stuck to his promise and called it in late. None of it was enough to kill his smile. He stepped back outside to get out of the din of voices with a little giggle at the back of his throat. Tonight was just amazing! Even with the lights burning a little bright and fuzzy on the edges of his vision, and the noise hitting his ears a little harder than normal, he felt great. He felt really good, especially when he hopped up on Mutt's hood to recline against the windshield and rest.

He felt good even while his heart fluttered and stuck his breathes in his chest. He was thinking maybe he needed to call someone to pick him up. He couldn't stop giggling.

"Mike?"

Someone was calling him, from over his shoulder. Down the alley. He couldn't see them when he looked.

"Mike." They called him. "Come here, Mike."

Cool! Just when he was thinking about people. He slipped off the hood and into the alley. He wasn't thinking about walking. Moving from the hot lights of the parking lot and into the cool, shaded alley just felt right, and he breathed a sigh of relief that turned into a reflexive giggle.

"Mike." That voice was familiar. Raspy, but familiar. He could see so well in the dark now that he was out of the bright lights. It was Kaia and a pack of Terras, all waiting in the back of the alley, sitting on boxes, watching him. Kaia waved a hand to him. "Mike. Come sit down with us. Rest."

She patted a spot next to her, clean and dry, with a sheet of cardboard down for him. It was so thoughtful! Mike sat right down with them and crossed his legs. Kaia, under the gas mask, was smiling at him. He could tell from the creases under her eyes. It gripped at his heart and squeezed it, flooding his body with joy.

Her hand went out and stroked through the thick sweep of his bangs. "Very good, Mike. Good boy."

Her nails were pinprick sharp where they ran along his scalp. It sent shockwaves through his skin, pulses down his spine and back up again to his head. He moaned. The other Terras flinched away from him while Kaia reached down and hooked his chin into her hand. Her finger ran along the soft skin at the top of his throat. It made him shudder, but it relaxed him. He let the weight of his head drop into her palm, and she held him up. It was a good feeling.

"You take to this so well," she said. "Give me your right hand."

He lifted his arm, putting his hand directly into her open palm. She ran the pad of her thumb along his knuckles and set his skin alight. She chuckled behind her mask. "Good boy. You're very good at this, Mike."

This affected him more than it should. He could tell, but he couldn't care. Trying to think about it through the happy pink fog in his head only made him laugh and laugh. Kaia cradled his cheek in her hand and petted the thought away, and she was so wonderful. She was doing such nice things to him, not making trouble at all, just being good, telling him he was being good. He was good. He was a good boy.

"An excellent call," Kaia said, but not to him. Her eyes were on one her tribesmen. "If I may say so. Alert the others; we're moving the plan up to tomorrow morning."

"Do we have enough time?" asked one of them.

"Ideally? No." Kaia's hands rolled against his cheeks, keeping his skin tingling and his mind hazy. "But we didn't have Mike Chilton before, either. We'll need to act fast. All of you back to the village. Be back here with deer, enough to tow the cars."

They stood and saluted. "Yes, Kaia." They disappeared into the dark, around the blind corners and twisting pipes of the alley.

"Mike? Put your hands on the ground, wrists together."

He did. He couldn't stop giggling. He was starting to feel short of breath. Kaia swept her fingernails through his hair again and scratched at his scalp. He just wanted to do this forever. This felt better than everything. Touching himself didn't feel this good. Nobody's kind words ever affected him like hers were. Not even Kane's compliments measured up to how she talked to him at this moment.

Something was wrong, and it was so funny that he laughed, and smiled, and laughed.

"You want to keep feeling like this?" said Kaia. "Do you want to be a good boy?"

"I wanna be good," said Mike automatically. "I wanna be a good boy."

"You want to be my good boy?"

He didn't, but he did. The idea of disappointing her was so scary, because disappointing people hurt. He didn't want to hurt. He remembered what hurt felt like, far back in his mind, away from the happy. He wanted to stay good and be happy like this forever. "Yes."

"Then you are a good boy." Kaia purred, and he felt so good. Everything was pink and fuzzy. Everything was warm. His vision went fuzzy. He was sweating, and laughing, and smiling. "All we need is a little training."

Going on three hours without pizza or Mike, meanwhile, was putting the Burners on edge. An hour for a drive had been a given. Two hours of wait for the pizza was odd, but they were deep in a game and hadn't thought about the time that much. Three hours, and about four calls where Mike didn't pick up, bordered on terrifying.

Chuck threw his hands into the air after the fifth call. "Guys, I'm not getting him! He isn't picking up, period! Antonio picked up and said he talked to him, but Mike isn't answering!"

Jacob paid attention, but he didn't stop pacing at the door. "Where is he?"

Dutch pointed out his tracking signal on the big screen. It was technically a tracker in Mutt, not really on Mike, but it was normally about the same thing. "Still at Antonio's! Says he's been at Antonio's for two hours! Not moving!"

Julie stood. "Okay, we have to go get him. Something bad might've happened."

"Burner rescue squad go!" Texas didn't stay still to pose or gloat. He ran straight to Stronghorn. Things were serious. Chuck dove into 9Lives with Julie while Dutch and Texas peeled out at full speed. Antonio's was in their sight within 10 minutes, and Mutt was easy to find in the dimly lit side lot. Mike was nowhere around her. He wasn't inside, which confused Antonio and the now-cold pizza he'd made for them. No one had seen him leave with anyone. They regrouped at the door.

"All right, four of us. North, south, east, west," said Julie. "Comms stay open, don't be afraid to scream if you see anything weird."

"WAY ahead of you!" wailed Chuck.

"You guys just get ready to carry Tiny out of danger!" Texas cracked his knuckles and popped his necks. "While I deliver a double dose of punch stick to whoever messed with him!"

"Meet up back at Mutt if we can't find him?" Dutch waited until everyone nodded in agreement. "Okay, good luck."

They split off in their separate directions, using Mutt as their grounding point. Chuck took off from the trunk and went that-a-way, checking behind Antonio's and around the dumpsters, along the back fence, between and under cars. Nothing yet, he thought to himself as he dipped into an alley. Nothing in the trash cans or between them, or up on the fire escapes. This was both okay and terrible, because at least Mike wasn't dead in this particular stretch of dirty street. There was just the potential to find him in another one, maybe right around the corner, maybe in the bottom of a canyon somewhere miles away, or maybe both-

Dutch's avatar popped up by his head, and he nearly shrieked. "Chuck, is that 'I found Mike' whimpering, or just your normal whimpering?"

Chuck's skin burned in a full-body blush, and he wailed, "Is this really the time for quips?!"

Dutch only quipped back, "Well breathe a little deeper, okay? You're spamming the comms."

Julie's face cut in. "Dutch, don't-"

Chuck, equally mortified and offended, just turned his comm off. He grunted out his angry noises now that he knew he couldn't be heard. Trying to look for a missing friend and Dutch has to make a remark about his nervous tics. He couldn't help it, they should know this by now! He'd just turn it back on later when he found Mike. Or, he supposed, if they regrouped, which he wouldn't know if they did because they couldn't call him, because his comms were off, just like Mike's were. Probably. Chuck sighed and hugged himself. He didn't ask to be a crybaby, he was just made that way.

A shadow blocked the light coming in from the alley. Chuck nearly jumped out of his skin, but upon turning he took in that angled silhouette, the colors around the edges where the light poured over, and the cowlick sticking up from the back of his head. He heaved another sigh, this one loose and relieved. "THERE you are! Good lord, Mikey, we were worried about you."

Mike chuckled, and Chuck bit back whatever he was going to say next. What was he laughing at? And why did his laugh sound weird? Like he wasn't breathing right, or... or maybe Chuck was wrong. Mike's shoulders were shaking, yes, but the noise was soft and irregular. Was he crying? Chuck was glad the comm was off now; maybe Mike needed some time alone. "Hey, are you not feeling good? We just came to check on you, but if you're not up for talking right now, me and the guys can head back."

Another shape stepped out behind Mike. "Mike. Go get him, like I told you."

Mike lurched forward, and the only thing Chuck could get out was a scream. His friend slammed into him like a truck and pinned him chest-down against the wall. Something fibrous and pulsing immediately trapped his wrists behind his back and crept up to his elbows to trap them together. A thick vine filled his mouth; Mike tied it snug around the back of his head, gagging him. Chuck was up and over his shoulder in nearly the blink of an eye, and as he was carried out of the alley, Kaia fell into step behind them. Her eyes creased in a wicked smile, making Chuck's stomach clench.

"Good boy, Mike."

Mike shuddered and moaned, and Chuck wailed behind the gag.

Back in the parking lot, Julie whipped around a corner and caught sight of Dutch and Texas hauling ass toward Chuck's scream. She raced to them, boomerang at the ready in her hand. "Spamming the comms, you said! Just had to make a remark!"

Dutch answered, unconvinced but arguing, "Maybe it was a panic scream! Maybe he got spooked by a cat and we're all overreacting!"

Julie nearly growled. She liked her friends, she liked being a Burner, she didn't want to think of them as "eugh the stupid boys", but on days like today... Now they had to find Mike and Chuck, all because Dutch couldn't bite his tongue on one little comment, even if Chuck's whimpers in the comm feed were a little annoying. You didn't just say that to people-

"There he is!" Texas whipped his gunchucks into his hands. "Over there, with Chuck and Kaia!"

"With who?!" Julie's attention popped back into sharp focus just in time to see Mike land his staff handle hard on Texas's fingers, snapping the gunchucks to the ground. Stunned by the pain, Texas flinched and didn't resist when Mike jammed a leg between his knees and twisted him to the ground with his elbow. Dutch went down in a single sweep of Mike's heel. Julie only managed to skid to a stop before one of Kaia's tangling darts slammed into her gut and enveloped her in vines.

"Mike?!" Julie shouted. The vines were squeezing too hard to breathe in. She tried searching Mike's eyes for a clue, but he looked like a mess. His hair was rumpled, eyes blown out, tear-streaked and laughing. It made her a little ill looking at him, and she couldn't pinpoint why. "What are you doing?!"

"Oh, Mike," Kaia purred. She casually dropped creeper vine spores onto Texas and Dutch to bind them up. Her hand came up to lace through Mike's hair and scratch behind his ears. "Look at you. That was utterly effortless. You did beautifully. Very good job."

Mike dropped his head back into her hand and nearly collapsed onto her, Chuck still casually over his shoulder like he was nothing more than a duffle bag. He never stopped smiling that wild grin.

Julie growled, "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing he doesn't appreciate, Julie." Kaia pushed Julie to her feet and tied her mouth with the same gagging vine that silenced the rest of her gang. White shapes moved on the edges of her vision, most likely the Terras mutant deer. "Don't worry. You'll be getting the same, in time." Kaia's eyes stayed on her as she gave orders to her tribesmen. "Load them up. Mike, you stay close to me. Give Chuck to Ral."

Ral lifted Julie with one hand and threw her over the back of a mutant deer. Mike laughed, and fresh tears rolled down his face. Julie, gagged and bound and loaded, only watched as Mike's fingers clamped and quivered against Chuck's back.

"Mike." Kaia's voice went firm. "Put Chuck down now."

He swallowed like he was trying to get a toad down his throat, and his hand and shoulders twitched, but Mike obeyed. He set Chuck down gently on the ground, where Ral picked him up and tossed him onto the back of the deer beside Julie.

"A little willful, ain't he?" said Ral.

"I need more time with him before we make our shot at Deluxe." Kaia stroked Mike's hair. "But you have your orders and the cars. We need to get back, and quickly."


	2. Chapter 2

Good Boy, Mike

Disclaimer: People reviewed! I'm so happy. Still don't own anything.

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It was a particularly terrible feeling, hearing Chuck whimper behind his gag as Kaia took his seat in Mutt. Julie struggled, but there was nothing to untie with a living mesh of plant matter. If she really twisted her back, she could get a hand on Dutch, but it wasn't worth the effort. It hurt to wrench her shoulders that way, she couldn't do a thing with her hands without seeing them, and any nearby Terra soldier would just walk his deer over and push them apart when she tried. It was all she could do to watch as the Terras lugged all of them back to the mutated village in slow motion. Mike rolled at the speed of the mutant deer, towing Whiptail and 9Lives behind him while the Terras leashed Stronghorn along behind them. Dutch, next to her, stayed tense the entire ride. Texas struggled, but he'd been triple-bound and gagged twice. The Terras knew who they were dealing with where Texas was involved.

Chuck, limp and heartbroken, just watched Mike through Mutt's windshield as he drove. Julie could see it in his shoulders, in the way his head fell to keep his hair hanging in front of his face even from the back. It was almost palpable. It made her chest hurt with every step the deer took, and it felt like years of trekking before the ground turned a sickly, glowing yellow and the air became pungent and sharp.

Terra village hadn't changed much since they'd last left it. It was still impenetrably thick with vegetation, and it twisted in ways that only Texas had the ability to navigate naturally. There was an energy that hadn't been present before, manifesting in wildly racing Terras, in and out of little houses and carrying anything from boxes to live animals to heavy equipment. Kaia was giving orders as soon as she was out of the car. "Get the deer watered and tack them into the battle harnesses. Ral, assemble the shock troops. Get Gunner out of the ward and fetch my training tools. Prepare cells for the Burner kids until we can make more of the darts."

"Actually, Kaia, I need to speak to you about the darts." A Terra man dressed in a dirtied labcoat swept in from the crowd. "The dosage you needed- it burned through our reserves. We could only make you one dart, and it will be powerful enough, but you need to land the hit."

"I really don't." Kaia waved Mike to her side and laced her hand into his hair. He sighed and leaned into her palm. "Not with him around."

"Can Mike get that close to Kane?"

Julie shuddered, horrified, and she felt it carry through the rest of the Burners as they listened in. Kaia's hand worked constant little circles in the back of Mike's head. "Mike's the only man in Motorcity that can go solo against Kane's monsters and survive. Whatever knowledge of that slimeball's city is hiding in his head, we have it at our disposal now. Our chances of getting close to Kane have gone from near-impossible to highly likely."

The scientist wrung his hands. "This is very irregular."

Kaia's "smile" pinched in worry. "I know. I'm sorry to put you in this position. But when Mike Chilton falls into your lap, you don't waste the opportunity. Besides, even if the plan fails, we have the other four in reserve. Start a batch for them, and make it easy to digest."

A fresh stream of tears ran down Mike's cheeks and down his neck, and he made a noise almost like sobbing before it quickly morphed into a pained laugh. Chuck whimpered behind his gag, and Julie immediately agreed.

The scientist flinched. "That... doesn't look like what happened to Gunner."

"Mike, be quiet now. Good boy." Kaia petted Mike's hair through another blissful sigh. "Mike's nothing if not... willful. He's been twitchy like this for the last hour or so."

Someone behind her spoke. "Cells are ready, Kaia."

Another Terra rushed forward holding a little leather pouch. "Your tools, Kaia!"

"Everything always happens at once. Board them separately and put Gunner on to watch." Kaia opened the pouch and pulled out something small and smooth, almost like a thumb drive but wooden. "I need another hour with Mike before he stops resisting me. Don't disturb us."

They were being carted off, turned away from where she could see, but Julie kept her eyes on Mike and Kaia. She ordered him to sit and pressed the little tool in her hand. It clicked. She knew about those. People used them to train animals. Teach them tricks. Julie's stomach wrenched in disgust.

Their guards brought them to a windowless building that resembled a toppled bank. The cells were only closet-sized, but they put Julie on a chair instead of leaving her on the floor. She heard Texas make a token attempt to escape, the scuffle from a few doors down. Nothing came of it. The guards sealed their cage doors shut with spores and kept watch over them until someone new arrived. It must have been Gunner: The new guy was about Mike's build and height, young like them, and his pupils were blown out to the whites of his eyes. He smiled like an idiot while two more Terras lead him through the door.

One of them took Gunner by the shoulder and gently sat him down in a chair, just barely where Julie could see him. "Gunner, watch the Burners until we get back. Don't get up. Don't let them out. Don't move from this spot, okay?"

"Okay..." Gunner even sounded a little like Mike, talking in half a giggle. "I'll be good."

One of the guards shivered. "That stuff makes him creepy."

"Yeah, but at least he's enjoying himself." Gunner got a good solid pat on the shoulder before they all left. "Good job, Gunner. Gotta get to the deer. Goin' to Deluxe in an hour."

Gunner made happy noises until they left the room, leaving him alone. More time spent waiting. Only Gunner's soft moans rang through the room every scarce moment. Once Julie was sure the guards weren't coming back, she tried biting into her gag. She immediately regretted it. The flavor was grassy and bitter and astringent, and the sap inside coated her tongue in a slimy film. It was like every single one of her most hated vegetables combined and turned up to the highest setting. It even made an awful squelching noise out of the sides of her mouth where she crunched into it. She had to fight herself not to hurl on the spot. Thinking about where it would even go if she did only made it harder. The crunching was even ringing in her ears.

She couldn't make it go away, though, like she normally could when sounds were stuck on loop in her head. Something was being munched on, loudly, somewhere in the building. She really couldn't tell specifics; the only things she could see were the hallway directly in front of her and the knee of Gunner's leg. She couldn't imagine anything that had the constitution to eat anything that grew in the Terra village, other than the Terras themselves and maybe a mutant rat or something-

Oh dear lord, she realized, it was Chuck, wasn't it?

A cough and a loud gasp in an unmistakable voice answered her question. Chuck spit and hacked and gnawed at the bits of gag still left in his teeth, but his mouth was free.

"OH jeeze... almost as bad as Jacob's..." Chuck coughed. "Nasty!"

Gunner laughed vacantly. Chuck took a long breath. He could work with this situation, maybe. A little. Sure, him and his team were kidnapped, and Mike was taking orders from one of their mortal enemies, and Kaia had subtly insinuated that she might be sending Mike on a suicide mission to Deluxe to tag Kane with a 'dart' that would magically solve all their problems. But he could work with this, because he'd noticed something with Mike, and Gunner was starting to confirm it. Commands. Kaia could input a command, and Mike would follow it. Gunner got his commands and executed them without thinking. Input, output, commands, and actions...

Whatever she'd done to them, Kaia had made Mike and Gunner into computers.

If Chuck knew one thing, it was computers. But people... that would be the tricky jump. He cleared his throat.

"Gunner?" Chuck's voice only trembled a little, in the back of his throat. "Can you hear me?"

Gunner lifted his head but didn't turn to face him. His eyes lolled around in their sockets, lost in sensation. "Yeah?"

A ping and response. Chuck's voice steadied itself a little more. He'd never spoken his commands out loud before. It was like translating a language- no, it just _was_ translating a language in his head on the fly. Speaking to another person the same way he talked to code was just so odd, it almost tasted weird in his mouth. Maybe that was eating through the gag, though, which he was now certain was some kind of mutant radish. "Gunner, let us out."

"I can't," said Gunner. His smile dropped, and his eyes darted around the room. "I can't do that."

"Why not, Gunner?"

"You're not Kaia. You're not Ral, you're not..." Gunner swallowed. "You're not Terra."

"Check for Kaia." Maybe if Gunner didn't get an answering ping, he could work with him. Chuck kept his voice low and nonthreatening, steady and calm. "Is Kaia here?"

Gunner shook his head, looking distressed. "No?"

"Check the room for me, Gunner. Who's here?"

Gunner listed all of them off, by name. Chuck reflexively tucked down lower in his seat. He knew Kaia knew their names, but did all the Terras know? Now Chuck had to swallow, to wet his throat, and that was a terrible taste that he didn't want to put in the back of his mouth but it was there now. Great. "Gunner, can you listen to me?"

"I-I..." Gunner wrung his hands and started to shake. "I..."

Maybe that was the wrong thing to ask. Gunner didn't look to be in much of a decision-making position. Computers usually weren't. Chuck took a steadying breath. "Gunner, listen to me. Do what I tell you. Take a deep breath and calm down."

Gunner took one long breath, and Chuck started to smile. It was working. "Good job, Gunner?"

Gunner blissfully sighed, and Chuck grinned. He had access. Dutch projected an impressed-sounding noise through his gag. Bolstered, Chuck continued. "Tell us what Kaia has planned, everything you know."

"Kaia made a new drug..." Gunner's fingers twitched as he struggled for words. "She used it on me, before she left to get Mike Chilton. It makes me so happy... everything good feels great. Everything bad feels horrible. I do what she says so nothing hurts."

Chuck gasped. "And she wants to dose Kane with it to control him! Gunner, let us out."

Gunner stood right up. "Okay."

"Thank you! Good job, thank you!" Chuck wriggled in his bindings. "All right! We are... getting loose from here and dropping ourselves RIGHT into Terra territory with no plan and Mike batting for the other team. I-I am out of good ideas now."

Gunner slipped into the first cell, out of Chuck's sight. Something made a noise like a knife cutting through thick celery, and a powerful gulp for air echoed out of the tiny room.

"No worries! Texas is going to save all our collective butts."

Chuck flinched. "Oh no."

Out in the mushroom forest, Kaia repeated her order in a firm tone. "Mike, pull up your shirt."

Mike kept his hands firmly on the "ground" where Kaia had him kneeling. Everything was wonderful and fuzzy and warm in his head, but nothing was okay. His team tied up and carried away was wrong. He turned over all the cars to the Terras, he should feel something other than good about it all. He couldn't even make himself remember feelings outside of this happy cloud. Whatever word of protest he might have made, it came out in a laugh and a wash of stinging tears.

Kaia crooked her finger at something over his shoulder.

A lash struck across his back, painting a line of searing fire across his back. It was like it gouged through his skin, choking him and breaking that wall of good feelings in a horrible moment of clarity. It hurt through his shirt and his jacket, and he couldn't imagine what had hit him to hurt him so terribly.

"Let's avoid that kind of pain, shall we?" Kaia said. "Now. Pull up the bottom of your shirt, Mike. Let me erase that terrible sensation from your mind. I'm not asking you to do anything that will harm anyone."

It... it wasn't hurting anyone, was it? He shouldn't let her-

The lash hit his back again, and his vision blinked out from the pain, and he laughed. The rush of air out of his mouth felt good, and the fuzz of the mushroom cap under his palms.

"Lift up your shirt, Mike."

He did. It was so easy to do. Kaia clicked her little clicker and stroked his head and scratched his ears. It made his skin tingle and his heart go fluttery. Everything was wonderful. That pain was gone, gone a million miles away, and just for the trade of that little order, and Kaia was purring to him, "Good boy, Mike. Very good of you. See how easy this makes things? I just want you to be happy."

Kaia nodded to her footman behind Mike, and the footman obligingly threw away the long reed he'd been using as a training tool. It fluttered a bit as it felt to the ground, light as a feather. Kaia sighed in relief. Anything heavier than that overgrown weed, and Mike could have blacked out from the shock. The heightened sensation was an essential part of the drug's side effects, of course, but she'd perhaps overestimated Mike's individual reaction to the dosage. She would have to treat him delicately. Considering her target, though, it wouldn't be hard. Mike could keep himself out of trouble all on his own. She petted away the imaginary stripe left on Mike's exposed skin, a small mercy for her new acquisition.

Mike just smiled, and laughed, and tried to remember why he was crying.


	3. Chapter 3

Good Boy, Mike

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Mike's training was progressing well. The mushroom swamp was the isolated and quiet, and no doubt Mike's memories of the unstable footing kept him from making a run for it. He wouldn't, though, not with the training she put him under. Her footman needed to step in for the next important step of the lesson: teaching Mike to listen only to her. She just wished he'd treat the situation with the gravitas it demanded.

"Ah, no, please," the footman pleaded, bored. He couldn't even make himself emote. "Don't touch me. I order it."

Kaia couldn't help a laugh. "Mike, touch him"

The footman, plainly, responded, "Do not touch me."

Mike, however, was exhausted. Kaia hadn't let him up from his knees for ages, and his back and hips were stiff and pounding. That pull in his stomach had to be hunger. The shift between euphoria and the horrible jolts of pain wiped the rest of his energy. The sensation in his head had morphed from a constant fuzzy warmth to a steady thump in his head, mapped to the beat of his heart. He could get that feeling back through, if he just... His hand went out and set itself on the footman's leg.

"Oh no," said the footman with all the enthusiasm of a dental patient. "I am defeated."

Mike laughed sincerely along with Kaia. It tickled his funny bone. It reminded him of Dutch, and it made him happy until Dutch's face came to the front of his mind. His face, bound in vines, and look at him like Mike let him down, like he betrayed him. All of his friends being carted away, hurt because of him, and their eyes following him as they were lead off to be locked up. Laughter crackled up his throat like he was about to throw it up all over the ground.

"All right," said the footman. "Now get your hands off me."

Mike's shoulder flexed before the rest of him reflexively locked. He couldn't. The last time he followed one of the footman's orders, he hurt. It was a different hurt every time, never anything he could expect and fight against. His back, his legs, the skin of his inner elbow, his earlobes- wherever he wasn't looking, it hurt, and it hurt terribly. He didn't move. He was scared to move.

"Finally." Kaia smoothed his hair back over his heads where it had been tousled. The pain subsided as his body flooded with joy. "I was starting to think you wouldn't get it. Good job."

"We good to move out now?" asked the footman.

"No. We keep at it, until it's second nature to him." Kaia thumped Mike's shoulder, and his mind blanked. He couldn't figure out if he was being punished or not. "Mike, take your hand off him now."

Back in the village, Terras scrambled, unknowingly watched by a pack of Burners. Gunner had released them all, saving Texas for a conspicuous last. Julie, Dutch, and Chuck all hung back and stayed quiet out of respect. If Gunner had been in his right mind, he never would have agreed to their demands. Using the same control on him that Kaia was using on Mike just didn't feel right. Once Texas was out, flexing his way out of the rest of the restraints after Gunner cut the main stalk, all bets were off. They pounced on him all at once, gagged him with a spare length of vine, and sealed him up in a cell. Dutch and Chuck pulled double duty tying the door shut with their old bindings while Texas and Julie stood watch at the door.

"We're sorry about the trouble, Gunner!" Chuck apologized. "Just don't tell anyone where we went if they ask you to, okay? Okay great thanks!"

"Come on, guys! You're holding up the sneaky-mobile!" Texas waved them over to the door so they could check the open area along with him. Terras were everywhere, not only moving across the flat patch of earth in front of the jail, but up and down mushroom stalks and tree trunks. There was no pattern to their movements, at least none that Burners could make out at first glance. Texas made a little noise of thought and stroked his chin. "Man, they're all over the place. Texas can get through, but he worries about being slowed by dead weight."

Julie sighed through her nose. "Look, I can extend my holo-projector to cover one more person, but only if they stay right on my back."

"What if I carried you on my shoulders?" asked Dutch. "Would that make our silhouette any smaller?"

"It's not that simple," said Texas. "The Terras don't have blind spots for us to sneak through like the KaneBots in Deluxe. Terras move up and down, not just along the ground. The only really safe way to get anywhere is to go around the outside of the village, along the sheer wall of the central tree. I could do it, and maybe Chuck could do it if we had a million years, but you and Dutch don't have the upper body strength to climb like that."

Dutch and Julie stood, stunned silent.

"Oh... I forgot," Chuck said as an afterthought. "You were an honorary Terra for a couple weeks there."

"WAIT hold everything Texas has just had an awesome idea. C'mere!" Texas yanked Chuck down and over his shoulders like a stole. Chuck grappled tight out of reflex. "See? The Chuck-pack! It's perfect!"

"Look, whatever gets us out of here faster!" Dutch worried aloud, "And I don't even know where we're going from here!"

"Oh that's easy." Texas cracked the door open again and pulled Dutch down to see. Julie scooted in on the other side. "We go around the cliff side of the village until we can go up the side of the big central tree, we climb it, and we scope out where to hit the Terras to stop their evil plan. My first instinct? Neutralize the deer, find the cars, then take out the bridge once we've crossed it."

"Hey, wait, woah! Forgetting something here?" Chuck kneed the door shut and twisted himself around on Texas's shoulder. "What about Mike?"

"Well, Mike's with Kaia, obviously," Texas shrugged, and the shrug bounced Chuck just enough to drop him to the floor. "We get Kaia out here, we get Tiny back and toss him in Mutt, and we'll have Chuck drive him home."

Chuck squealed in dread.

"I hate to say it, but I'm kind of more worried about Kaia than Mike." Julie finished up her calibrations and clipped the holo-emitter back into its usual spot. Kaia's words about the plan to dose her father with whatever was affecting Mike still hung in her mind. "If she can make more of that drug, she can just make a stockpile and try again later, even if we do rescue Mike. I don't think we can run for the garage right away. Texas has a good base plan, though."

Texas picked Chuck right back up and held him by the wrists and the knees, pulling him around his neck so he couldn't fall off again. "We aren't gonna get anything done standing around here! We gotta move out to the big tree-shroom and do intel!"

"Wait!" Julie gasped. "Put Chuck down and carry me! I can keep us cloaked, and we can relay shots of the village to Chuck and Dutch here."

"I second that plan!" Chuck wriggled to release himself from Texas. "Second it to hell and back, anything that does not put me over a sheer cliff face!"

"Eh, it'll do." Texas dropped Chuck hard. "Come on, Sadie!"

"Julie."

"Hwa-chaaa! Texas!"

Julie got swung up onto Texas's shoulders like she weighed nothing, and only just had time to activate her cloak before he was out the door and into the village. Texas bobbed and ducked into hiding places like she wasn't even there, sometimes pulling her feet out of the way of an oncoming Terra that she didn't even spot. She had to hang on herself once Texas grappled onto the far wall and started climbing, and even that was a terrifying ride. Nothing but the sickly yellow glow of toxic waste below and a cold, unfeeling wall under Texas's hands... it was enough to make her a little dizzy, looking down. After a long minute of debating with herself, she closed her eyes and hid her face in Texas's neck, and hoped for her own sake that she didn't whimper.

They stopped about two stories up. Hidden in the foliage, Texas let Julie down gently and looked out, assessing the grounds. He waited until Julie was visible before speaking. "Right, look," he began, "See that building over there? Used to be a superstore. Got a lot of boxes in front of the big loading ramps?"

Julie followed Texas's pointing finger. She could see it, and the boxes looked kind of haphazardly stacked. Why would Texas be pointing it out- she gasped, realizing the answer. "They made room for the cars!"

"Exactamundo," said Texas with a little grin. She snapped a few pics and shot them over to Chuck with the relevant information in text. "And it's not too far from the deer pens, either. Go any further into the village, and the trees get too curvy to drive on, much less if the car's getting towed. They've gotta be in there."

"You're sure?" Julie asked.

"Not a lot of places to store cars when you don't use 'em," said Texas. "Just a lot of spook-proof deer."

That gave Julie pause midway through her recon photos of the deer pens. "Spook-proof?"

"Yeah, spook-proof!" Texas held his fingers out in a frame. When Julie looked through them, she saw a little grouping of deer with antlers on the far side of the pen. "The deer are special-trained to be spook-proof. They're not scared of gunfire, explosions, most loud noises, and especially people who aren't Terras."

Julie sent that info to Chuck and worried at her lip. "If they're spook-proof, how do we neutralize them?"

"See, what I do is wheel in there with the gun-chucks and use my awesome kung-fu powers in a massive brawl-"

"And you're back to Texas." Julie took over that line of thought and commed Chuck and Dutch. Their avatars popped up on her comm screen. "All right, you guys have all the info I do. How do we get the deer out of the picture without hurting them?"

Chuck said, "I'd say we could use the super-spores on them, but if I can eat through them, the deer probably can too."

Dutch said, "All we'd have to do is use a lot! Nothing eats that fast."

Julie nodded. "Texas, where do they keep the super-spores?"

Texas scanned and pointed to a long hut. They passed it on the trek to the tree, and she hadn't thought much of the nondescript building. "Over there. Or in Kaia's house; she always got hers out of there."

"Plan's rearranged," Julie stated. "Texas and I are going to get as many super-spore grenades as we can carry from the armory, then we're getting the cars. From the cars, we use their cache of super spores to tangle up the deer. No weapons, no rides, and from there we get rid of the drugs."

"Okay, that's definitely in Kaia's house," said Texas. "So what do we do to get rid of the drugs?"

"Kaia's house is made of plants, isn't it?" said Chuck. "What if we set it on fire?"

The Burners gasped in shock.

"Look, this is seriously dangerous stuff!" Chuck argued. "We want NO chance of it ever coming back, and if fire gets the job done-"

"Hey, and if they're busy putting out the fire," Dutch realized, "Nobody's coming after us!"

Julie's smile was growing as the picture formed in her head. "And then Kaia comes running in to check on the noise..."

Chuck gasped and finished, "And brings Mike!"

"This plan just went from crazy to plausible," said Julie.

Texas preened. "You mean crazy to crazy-AWESOME!"

"Yes! Yes, I do!" Julie was only halfway teasing. This plan was haphazard and growing more destructive by the minute, but the stakes felt too high to risk playing lowball. She popped her holo-emitter onto her belt. "Texas, put me on your shoulders and get me to the cars. Dutch, Chuck, lay low 'til we tow Whiptail to you. Let's party."


	4. Chapter 4

Good Boy Mike

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

* * *

Texas let himself have a nice little grin as Stronghorn revved to life underneath him. 9Lives answered with her own roar, and he cracked his neck. All the cars were stuffed with super-spore grenades and darts, and he held a few in his off hand, ready to toss out the window. "All right, Terras... It's time for Texas to pound your faces! TEXAAAAS!"

They tore out of the dark garage in an explosion of concrete wall and cardboard, showering the area with enough super spores to latch every Terra to the ground where they stood. Only straight gunning the engine kept their cars out of the tangling mess. Caught off guard, almost none of the Terras were armed. They few that were shot for anything that moved, which included the holo-duplicates of 9Lives and Stronghorn that Julie projected from the real 9Lives. Spore bolts passed right through the holograms and into other Terras or onto the sides of buildings, but by sheer luck, they never hit the real cars.

Julie breathed a sigh of relief and held her finger over the tow cable toggle. She had Whiptail at the ready for Dutch and Chuck, and she was coming up fast on the prison cell building. Her comm snapped open. "Dutch, you and Chuck in position?"

Back in the jail, Dutch's hand hovered at the door handle. Chuck whimpered into his shoulder and shivered against his back, and he was sincerely wondering how Mike put up with him on a daily basis. "Ready when you are!"

"Then go!"

9Lives whipped into a tailspin and released the tow cable holding Whiptail. The car's autopilot engaged to stabilize the spin, and it skidded to a stop in front of the jail. Dutch and Chuck jumped for the doors, and Dutch was on the accelerator before Chuck could strap himself in. Joining back up with the rest of the Burners, Dutch tapped into the comms. "Okay, where are we on the plan?"

"Wreck shit!" yelled Texas.

Julie, more helpful, said "Texas and I have the super spores, just concentrate on taking out the chemical room."

"Oh jeeze!" Chuck wailed from the rear seat. "I am NOT used to facing backwards!"

"Get used to it fast!" Dutch floored the engine and spun Whiptail. Her rear weapon snapped into position and blasted a clean line of laser fire into a Terra building. Half the villagers surrounding Whiptail turned and ran to the smoking gash, freeing up the ground to drive. "All right, we're en route for Kaia's! You guys have the deer."

Texas piped in. "Roger-dodger!"

"Hey, I just thought of something," said Chuck. "About the plan?"

Julie commed in. "Yeah?"

"I don't know what the Mike drug looks like."

Texas popped in, his call filled with the background noise of Terra shouting and braying deer. "Can't you just do magic computer stuff like normal?"

Chuck brought up his screens out of reflex, only to have them all display the same "OUT OF SERVICE AREA" message he was expecting. "The Terras aren't exactly on the grid, Texas!"

Dutch's avatar jammed its way into the conversation, and Chuck got the weird experience of hearing both the comm Dutch and normal Dutch over his shoulder talking at the same time. "Maybe it'll be glowing green or right in the middle of a big obvious table!"

"Or, Mr. Set-it-on-fire, maybe just," Julie put the sarcasm on hard, "I dunno, set it all on fire?!"

"Look, I've had some time to think about it, all right?!" Chuck snapped back. "And it doesn't seem like the best idea to go into a building with a bunch of unidentified radioactive chemicals and then start a fire!"

"It's too late to think of another option, Chuck!" Dutch popped the back hatch. "We're here! Hurry up and go in!"

"Look, if you see something that's obviously the Mike drug," said Julie, "Grab it and we'll have Jacob analyze it. Maybe we can make an antidote or something. Until then, stick to the plan!"

"Oh jeeze oh jeeze oh jeeze-"

Who just put their name on their house?! Jacob had his name on the grocery store but he didn't label his house with great big neon letters that said "JACOB" like Kaia had "helpfully" done with hers. And did she even live here, or was it just where she kept all her stuff? How was a drug supposed to be obvious? These were the panicked thoughts that scrambled through Chuck's head as he threw himself into the dark chemical den. He spent a few seconds blind, adjusting to the dark and stumbling over chair legs and into a wall before he could see again. Laser fire and yelling from outside echoed through Kaia's house/office/base, but nothing inside was making any noise. He was the only one inside, and as he entered the kitchen/lab of Kaia's place and took in the sight of warm equipment, lit bunsen burners, and dripping flasks, he figured this was a recent development. He pulled his shirt up over his nose.

True to his worries, he had no idea what most of this stuff was if it wasn't clearly labeled. "Clearly" was a touch of an understatement, too, as the labels on the jars and cans were all hand-written, sometimes in pencil, and many of them were wet and smudged. His eyes fell on something odd, though: one shallow dish under a pipette, the pipette full but the dish suspiciously empty and sizzling. It put off a smell that made his tongue numb, even through his shirt. Why would this one be empty? Whatever was in there, they took it with them, and in a hurry.

Chuck gasped. This had to be it.

Now he had to set it on fire and run. Great. Every instinct in his body told him not to do this. Stalling, he commed Julie. "So- bad news! The thing that looks like it'd be the Mike drug? Totally empty. I think they might already have it."

"Oh no. Oh no, oooh no-" Julie's voice was almost drowned out by the panicked braying of deer outside her windows. "Oh no. Um. Any idea where it- we gotta worry about it later. Stick with the plan! Light the place up!"

Dutch jumped in. "Need me to do it?"

"NOT WHILE I'M IN THE BUILDING!" Chuck screamed. Easiest safest way to set a room full of hazardous, flammable, potentially explosive chemicals on fire- Chuck really should just never contribute plans ever again. He hated this one already and it was his idea! Why did he- he nearly kicked himself. Okay, how to do a time delay? Maybe he could make something into a wick- maybe there was potassium or sodium that he could drop into a sink full of water- no that was an even worse idea, if the Terras tried to put it out with more water- maybe if he just tipped a bunsen burner over and let it sit? But that might not make a big fire fast enough-

Dutch's avatar flashed on, and he screamed. "WE GOT MIKE!"

The feed cut off with the heady crunch of something smashing through Dutch's windshield, and Chuck mentally said "SCREW IT" and swept his arm over the entire counter. Fires immediately flared up where he tipped over burners and spilled chemicals on top of them, and he ran from the building with heat licking against his bare back.

Out on the flats of the village, Chuck could see it; the blue fire of Mike's staff whipping in and out of Dutch's windshield while Whiptail did donuts trying to shake him. Chuck snapped his slingshot into his hand and took aim for Mike's hands, and just as he had a clean shot, something behind him exploded and knocked him to his feet. The plasma ball few past Mike's head, distraction enough to shake his footing and send him rolling over Whiptail's roof. Mike was back on his feet effortlessly, eyes scanning the ground and settling on a new target: Chuck.

"SoooMEBODY COME GET ME!" Chuck took off on all fours before his legs caught up with the rest of him. Mike was on his heels in seconds. "ANYBODY!"

"Texas is on it!" Texas pulled into a turn hard. Mutt swung out behind him and fishtailed him into Chuck's path lengthwise. He threw the door open and sprinted directly for Chuck and Mike, gunchucks at the ready. "You've been a bad boy, Mike! Time for a spanking from DADDY TEXAS! HWOO-AAAH!"

Chuck dove low, and Texas jumped up into a flying roundhouse. While Chuck ducked under and bolted for Stronghorn's back seats, Mike's staff met Texas's shin and knocked him straight to the ground. Every bit of Texas stung like electricity on his funnybone for a split second before he sprung back on his hands and onto his feet. "Okay, that's one match point, Tiny, just-"

Mike's eyes met him, and Texas felt like he was going to puke. Mike gasped for breath through loud, pained guffaws of laughter. His skin shined with sweat and a constant roll of tears down his cheeks, his eyes dilated and red and puffy and darting all over Texas's face, struggling to focus. His hair was rumpled and stuck to his sweaty face; his shirt sat wrinkled and partially untucked. The grip on his staff was quivering and unstable, like his treasured weapon was trying to fight its way out of his hands and winning. Worse was his smile, normally confident, now so tight and wild that it showed nearly as much gums as teeth.

"Woah!" Texas jumped back. "You are SERIOUSLY tweaked, Mike."

Mike sobbed until he was giggling. "I don't want to do this..."

Texas barely dodged the staff blade as it cut through where his shoulder had been before. Texas whipped his gunchucks over his shoulders and held them taut.

"I don't wanna either, Mike," Texas said with a sigh. "But, you gotta admit... it'll be really cool."

Texas dove in at full Texas-ified strength, gunchucks against fire staff in the hand-to-hand battle of the century. Texas held Mike on defense for a few precious seconds. His gunchucks landed on the flats of Mike's staff, staying away from the metal-cutting flames for the moment, but his legs didn't have the reach to sweep Mike's footing out from under him. Every little inch of ground he gained was dodged without effort, and as they fell into a rhythm, Texas could feel each blow coming with a little more force behind it, a little faster than the last time. Mike, even tweaked, was learning his attack pattern, and his muscles clenched in anticipation for Mike's starting blow.

It never came. Instead, a laser shot out the ground under Mike's feet and sent him flying backwards.

"Do you KNOW how hard it is to replace the windshield on this car?!" Dutch screamed from Whiptail. He shook his head, clearing the little beads of windshield glass out of his hair. "Not to mention you nearly took my nose off!"

"What'd you do that for?!" Texas howled. "We were fighting like men and you-"

Chuck shrieked from Stronghorn, "TEXAS GET BACK IN YOUR CAR AND DRIVE!"

"Focus, boys!" 9Lives peeled into the scene, followed by seven other 9Lives. The holograms were set to mirror her moves, and she pulled 9Lives into a donut around Mike. It made an effective wall of cars around him, staggering Mike while he tried to find the real 9Lives in the blurr of yellow and black. "If Mike's here, then Kaia's not far behind! Stay in your cars and keep them moving! Don't let Mike into Mutt!"

Up above, watching from a high branch, Kaia couldn't aim. Julie's stupid holo-car even cast artificial shadows on the ground, and she couldn't peg Mutt with a super-spore bolt without endangering her own schedule. Texas and Dutch's cars weren't worth a bolt, even while they were idling. Her arms were quivering in frustration. All of her hard work and months of planning, all going to hell overnight because she thought she could just hold the Burners indefinitely. She'd rushed out of Mike's training once reports came to her of the Burners escaping, of them smothering half their prize deer in tangling vines and cutting down swaths of the forest with their car's weapons. She'd sent Mike out on his own in a panic, and now he was proving himself undependable unless she was right at his shoulder giving him orders. Perhaps she had rushed this plan, yes, but she wouldn't let it be ruined by a bundle of stupid children!

"Kaia! Kaia, there you are!" Her lead scientist scrambled onto the branch beside her. "I couldn't find you in the- I thought you'd be- the final dose! I have it! It's ready!"

He pulled her free hand right off her crossbow and put the dart and blowgun directly into her palm, closing her fingers around it. "This is our only chance! It will take months-"

"I understand." Kaia took a calming breath. She couldn't be short with her own people; she would save it for Kane in Deluxe. She retracted her crossbow and tucked the dart and blowgun away in her belt pouch. "Can I trust the village to you while I head for Deluxe?"

"Yes, Kaia!"

"All right. Get the deer free. I'm heading out alone."

Kaia dove from the high branch, spreading her wings to slow her fall and block the sight of the Burners off from Mike once she's landed. His attention snapped to her. "Mike, new orders. Get us to Mutt and drive to Deluxe, fast as you can."

Back in the cars, Chuck nearly jumped out of his skin. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

"Oh yeah, Kaia has giant killer moth wing-a-lingies," said Texas as he buckled in. "You weren't there for that."

Mike sprinted into the wall of 9Lives without hesitation. Julie, seeing him right in the path of her front wheels, slammed on her brakes and cracked the steering column in the opposite direction. She spun out of Mike's way while the holograms passed through him harmlessly.

He knew she'd hit the break, she thought to herself. He knew she wouldn't run him over. She wanted to slam her head into the nearest wall in frustration, but now wasn't the time for it; before Stronghorn's wheels could stop spinning against the grass, Mike's staff sliced straight through the tow cable hitch on the car's back bumper. Mutt bounced free, and Mike and Kaia slipped right into the front seats. Mutt growled, the engine fired, and Mike slipped right through the other three cars like they'd been sitting still.

"Go! GO! GO AFTER HIM!" Julie slammed 9Lives into gear and tore off after Mike, Stronghorn and Whiptail on her flanks.

"They're headed for the bridge!" gasped Texas.

"That must mean they have Kane's dose of the drug!" intuited Chuck. "We can't take on Mike AND KaneBots!"

"That just means we gotta stop him before he makes it to Deluxe!" Dutch answered.

Mutt gave a shrieking snarl and boosted ahead by nearly two lengths of car. Julie swallowed hard. This wasn't going to be any kind of easy. None of the cars by themselves were fast enough to catch up with Mutt.

"Wait! We can intercept him!" Chuck spread his screens out over Stronghorn's back seat and started scoping out the routes. "If they try to go the shortest route, they'll hit civilian traffic and get bottlenecked. I'm sending maps to all of you. Follow this route, and we should be able to get ahead of him!"

"This is it, guys!" Julie commanded. "It's now or never!"


	5. Chapter 5

Good Boy Mike

Disclaimer: Well dang I guess it needs one more chapter. I thought this would be the last one, but nope!

* * *

Mike had a decent grip on Motorcity's roads, even with his head clouded over. It was finding the side streets, making sharp turns, and avoiding obstacles was painfully difficult. Not only was Chuck's voice not here to direct him to the clear streets, thinking was just getting hard. His hands were numb where they gripped the wheel. His vision was starting to blur. Things in the road appeared in his vision far too late for him to drive around, and after a few mailboxes and at least one abandoned bicycle wound up under Mutt's tires at 300-something miles an hour, Kaia started shrieking. She had already been screaming in terror, but now her voice took on a ragged, shrill tone that hurt his ears.

"What are you doing?!" Kaia clung to the seat even harder than Chuck usually did. Her knuckles had gone white against the arm rests, as has her toes where they mashed into the floor. Her back had nearly arched all the way out of the seat in her instinctive scramble to get away from the windshield. "Is this how you normally drive?!"

It was the last thing he felt like he could choose not to do; he said nothing in response. There was no shock of pain that came with not talking, and he clung to that little bit of control with all he could. Kaia, as expected, did nothing to punish him. She only screamed as Mike's passenger side tires bounced off a curb and sent her slamming against the seat belt and back down hard into the seat. It made him giggle, just a little, and he held tight to that.

"THERE! Take that road on the right!"

It was gone in an instant. His mind blanked and his arms moved without him, internally flinching away from disobeying and getting lost in the rush of joy when he did exactly what he was told. Motorcity came back into focus a pixel at a time, from the bottom up. The last thing he noticed was Whiptail coming in sharp on his left.

Kaia gasped "WHAT THE-" before Whiptail clipped Mutt's back fender hard and sent him fishtailing. Mike had to steer hard to keep on the narrow high road while Stronghorn caught up on his right flank. Her top popped open, and while Texas kept his attention on the road, Chuck in the back was aiming his slingshot.

"Get her good for me, Chuck!" Texas shouted.

Chuck's mouth flared in a snarl. Mike couldn't remember the last time he saw Chuck this angry, from the furrow in his windswept brow to the hard line of his shoulders as he pulled back the plasma bolt. "GET OUT OF MY SEAT!"

His shot narrowly missed Kaia's head, instead splattering- and shattering- against the windshield. Dull beads of windshield glass bounced off Mike's cheeks, normally just an annoyance but now stinging him like so many wasps against his cheeks.

"HA!" Dutch hollered. "See how YOU like it!"

Kaia readied a bolt into her crossbow and took aim just as Texas lowered the Strongarm's room. "That's enough!"

Her vision filled with yellow before she could take the shot. Mike's foot flinched on the accelerator; 9Lives after 9Lives circled Mutt as Whiptail and Stronghorn pulled off. Julie was trying to box him in again, keep him isolated. Kaia fired off one bolt, and another, and a third. None of them hit. She grunted in annoyance and shouldered her crossbow. "This is pointless! Break the wall! Speed up and get us out of here!"

Mike floored the gas, and Mutt dipped halfway into the wall of hologram 9Lives before the _real_ 9Lives slammed into his driver's door. Kaia screamed from the shock. His stomach lurched at the familiar feeling of spinning right off the side of the high road and rolling onto ground level. Their seat belts held, and they landed on Mutt's tires, but it wasn't five seconds before Stronghorn flew off the side of the road and drifted right into Mutt's side. The cars smashed into the wall of a building with Mutt sandwiched between bricks and Stronghorn's armor plating. Kaia threw her weight into the door, but aside from gently rocking Mutt, the door didn't budge. Mike fell back into his seat to breathe. Chuck was watching him through Stronghorn's window, and Mike saw him watching out for him even now, and it made him... happy. A real happy, deep in his gut and away from the pink fuzz in his mind. He smiled at Chuck as best he could.

"Got him!" Texas cheered. "Go Texas!"

Chuck threw his arms into the air, knocking his knuckles against Stronghorn's roof. "We did it! WE DID IT!" He popped his comm open, leaving it on the broadcast channel to everybody. "Mike and Kaia are pinned!"

"We're on our way, guys!" Dutch answered for Julie. He had pulled to a stop on the high road, keeping an eye on 9Lives. He could see her through her broken driver's side window, shaking her head and re-orienting herself. She would need a minute, and he wasn't in a hurry to drive off an overpass if he didn't need to. "Everybody ready to jump on Kaia and go through all her pockets?"

Chuck pressed his face against the window, looking over Mike and checking his eyes. Still dilated way too much, still teary and red, but at least now, he wasn't attacking them. They had him pinned and they would all fix this together. "Can I jump on her a couple extra times, just to be safe?"

"Only if you save me a spot!" said Julie, making Texas and Chuck laugh.

Kaia took a breath, and Mike's throat clenched in anticipation.

"Mike," Kaia ordered. "Get out of this car and _maim them_. We'll come back for them once we're done in Deluxe."

Mike shuddered, and Chuck recoiled from Stronghorn's window. "Guys, Kaia said something and Mike's getting tense-"

The rest of Chuck's words were lost in a horrified wail as blue flame sliced through Mutt's hood. Mike leaped out of Mutt and made a dive for Stronghorn. Texas hooked his hand into the back of Chuck's shirt and pulled hard, flipping them out of the car just as the staff came down hard in Chuck's previous spot. Texas sprung on his hands and landed in a fighting stance, gunchucks audibly charging up. He fired three warning shots; Mike reflexively deflected all of them.

Chuck yelped from behind Texas, his slingshot snapping into space in his palm. "That could've killed me!"

Mike staggered. His legs came down hard in Stronghorn's interior, and he had to brace a hand against the steering column to keep on his feet. "Please..." he gasped through a laugh. "I don't want to..."

Kaia's form rose from Mutt's ravaged roof. "Stop talking and fight them!"

Chuck's voice dipped low, for Texas's ears only. "Can you hold him off?"

Texas cracked his neck and grinned. "Please. Who're you talking to?"

Heat surged as Mike swung down on Texas's head. Metal met gunchucks in a shower of sparks. Texas matched Mike's hits one for one, throwing himself into the blows to deflect the hits with brute force.

"Stop messing around, Mike!" Kaia screeched behind him. "Sweep his-"

The order cut off sharp. That plasma bolt hit, landing right on Kaia's shoulder and burning into her skin and the fine hairs of her wing joint. Chuck ducked back further from Texas and took another shot, and another, each one landing against her chest before she could get the words out of her mouth. With no new orders, Mike kept plowing forward in the same mindless attack pattern, leaving Texas to duck and flip into a Texas Tornado that knocked Mike onto his hip. Chuck could hear Whiptail and 9Lives on the way. All he had to do was keep Kaia on the ropes, away from giving Mike orders, until everybody showed up.

Something dark moved over Kaia's shoulder, and Chuck twitched hard and loosed a plasma bolt. The plasma bolt clipped something that smoldered into little fine particles of dust: the edge of Kaia's wing. The split-second of hesitation, the time it took for Chuck to even have the thought, was enough for Kaia to whip her crossbow into place and shoot for his legs. The vines jumped up his legs and started pulling him down to the ground, and Chuck fell backwards with a yelp.

"Hold up, Chuck!" Texas shouted.

He couldn't help answer, "PHRASING!"

"Texas to the rescue!"

Texas was at his side in a flash. He ripped through the vines with his bare hands and pulled Chuck free with a sick squelch of torn plant tissue. Chuck barely got a breath in before a sound filled his other ear. While engines were growing louder on his left, Mike's staff was revving back to life in his right.

"I'm getting tired of your stalling, Mike!" Kaia hissed. "How clear do I need to be?! Get over here and cut their tendons! Knock them out! If you want them to live, then you'll follow my orders! Now!"

Mike's face washed with a fresh run of tears. He spun his staff and dropped it as it slipped out of his sweaty hands. Even as he kneeled to collect it, he laughed. "Don't hurt them..."

"This is really messed up, Kaia!" Texas warned. "Like, even for you!"

Kaia snarled, and her wings snapped up. It drenched the two Burners in immediate darkness, lit only by the flames coming off Mike's staff. Chuck cowered, and Texas spread his stance to cover him that little bit more. "You two are the ones making this hard for Mike! If you had just stayed in your cells, I wouldn't have to make him hurt you! Once Deluxe was destroyed, you could have had places in the tribe!"

"Y-you think we're dumb enough to buy that?!" Chuck argued. "You're using him, and all you were gonna do was use us!"

"I was going to find ways to make you useful," corrected Kaia. "Now, I'm seeing you're not worth the trouble! Mike's the only useful one out of all of you, and even he doesn't know how to follow orders!"

Mike sobbed where he stood. In the flickering fire light, he looked half dead. His face never wavered from that horrible grin that showed all his teeth and kept him laughing, always laughing, while he broke into a sprint. "I'm sorry..."

Chuck winced. Texas threw his gunchucks into a hurried block. The ground between them flashed pink before it exploded. Chuck and Texas flew onto their backs and hit concrete, and when they sat up, 9Lives blocked their view of the scene. Chuck whuffed in relief and pulled him and Texas up to their feet while Whiptail tore another furrow in the ground with her laser.

"Why does everyone keep getting between me and the fight?!" Texas whined.

Julie jumped out of 9Lives, along with Julie, Julie, and Julie. Every Julie's mouth moved, but only the real one spoke. "Guys, ignore Mike! I was listening in; all we need to do is take out Kaia, and Chuck can do his programmer stuff on Mike and get him to stop attacking us. Rush her!" She dove into the dirt cloud Dutch had kicked up, the only sign of life inside behind Kaia's massive wings beating in the air trying to clear it.

"Texas is ALL about punching chicks who deserve it!" Texas beat his gunchucks against his chest and dove into the smoke. "TEXAAAS!"

"Save some for me!" Dutch called out into the dirt cloud.

Chuck wrestled with himself for a few long seconds before clenching his fists and diving in. "Mike, you better appreciate this when you're better!"

All eyes clouded by the dust, Kaia roared in anger. She couldn't see, but she could feel all of the stupid Burners _touching her_. One of them pinched the edge of her wing, another one- delicate hands, must have been Julie- had her ankle and was pulling with her entire weight. It was nothing to wrench her ankle back and kick her soundly in the solar plexus, but it was another when Texas tackled her gut and sent her shoulder into Mutt's crumbled fender. Whenever she kicked out or swung her hand, it connected with someone, but then another three _grabbed_ at her somewhere new, somewhere she couldn't anticipate. Each punch felt like another second knocked off her all-important schedule. That drug wouldn't stay in Mike's system forever, and Kane was waiting above for her to command in ruin! Her teeth sunk into someone's wrist, and when they pulled away with a shriek- Chuck- Kaia commanded, "Get in here and defend me, Mike Chilton!"

"Don't let up!" Julie commanded right back. The dust was just starting to settle; Kaia could see her standing back from the boys, getting her breath back. Mike was struggling to his feet behind her, using his staff as a walking stick to regain his footing. He towered over Julie, even half-beaten and nearly knocked out by an explosion going off at his feet. "Just get her on the ground!"

Kaia's teeth gnashed. This stupid child was not about to stop her! She was the one organizing this rag-tag band in Chilton's absence, and she was more than out of patience with all of them. "Mike, _get rid of Julie_!"

Mike pleaded, "No..." and stood to his full height. Julie jumped at the sound of his voice. She had turned into a target fast, and options jumped through her mind. She wasn't a fighter like Texas. Her one ranged attack was the boomerang, and it took catching before she could throw it again, unlike Chuck's unlimited plasma ammo. If Mike started gaining ground, no doubt the guys would try to help, and then Kaia would get loose and they would be right back where they started this fight. Julie had one choice, and it wasn't a great one, but it would work.

Her last order was "Don't let up on Kaia! I'll be back!" before she ran into a dark alley. Mike followed her, exactly according to her plan.

Now her plan was "get away from mind-controlled Mike that had orders to kill her", and the reality of that hit her once Mike sliced his way through a fire escape ladder instead of vaulting over it like she had. Her heart pounded its way into her throat as she scrambled to put distance between them. His staff cut clean through everything she threw in his way, be it trash cans, boxes, or fences she climbed over. Everything fell in ribbons in front of him, and he just kept coming after her at a full run, sobbing the entire time.

"I'm so sorry..." He begged through his grin as half of a neon sign fell at his feet. The crash made Julie look over her shoulder. Mike was a wreck, all wild hair and rumpled clothes and sweat on top of a painful smile and tears. "Please, I don't want to do this. She's making me..."

"Mike, I know!" Julie could barely spare the breath, but she had to say something. She pulled herself up a fire escape, using it as a jumping point to get over a broken wall. "It's the drug in your system! I know this isn't you!"

"But it is..." His staff sliced through the brick wall twice in a V. He dropped his shoulder hard against the alley wall and pushed it over, just barely missing Julie's ankles. "Something's wrong with me... she trained me like Kane trained me, to follow orders without thinking, and doing it makes me feel good..."

"Don't!" Julie couldn't make herself say more than that. Everything wrong about the thought hit her all at the same time, and she couldn't decide on a single one. "Just don't think that about yourself ever again, okay?! I know you're-"

Julie turned and hit a dead end, a five story dead end with no light, nothing to climb, and no room to get around Mike's side. He blocked the whole entrance, and Julie was trapped.

"... good." Julie turned her back to the wall and backed against it, flush. Mike was closing in at the slowest he could make himself go. Her gut sank like a lead weight, weakening her knees and sending her sliding down the wall. All she could do against him now was talk... "I know you're good under there, Mike. You wouldn't do this if she wasn't forcing you."

"It hurts so much..." Mike was at her ankles, illuminated in fire, laughing and laughing until the sound meant nothing. All Julie could hear was the sobbing underneath, and the tremor in his fingers. "I hate this..."

It was like a door opening, illuminating the alley. The weight didn't lift out of her stomach, it just... disappeared, leaving her thoughts clear and hollow and floating in a void of clarity. Julie gulped and slipped her hand into her pocket. "Mike? I want you to know, whatever happens next... we all love you, okay?"

Mike lifted the staff above his head, ready to drive it down into her. His jacket was wet where the tears hit his shoulders. "I love you too..."

Julie gulped. Her eyes screwed shut. She took a breath. "Okay."

She flipped her boomerang on, but instead of throwing it, she lurched forward and jammed it into his gut. The electroblade fizzled out against Mike's skin, and the contacts at the base stabbed right through his wet shirt and into his skin. She couldn't use her boomerang as a boomerang, but in close quarters, it made a perfect taser. She held tight through Mike's spasms, even as he dropped his staff and the handle landed across her shoulders and dropped to her feet. She pressed it harder into his flesh even as he screamed, and screamed, and the sound filled the alley and all the winding paths leading to it. She had never heard a sound that raw and agonized before now, and it seared into her mind all the way to Mike's last gurgle. She only let go when he dropped cold to the ground. She only opened her eyes once he stopped making noise.

Mike was on the ground, unconscious. She knocked him out. His shirt rumpled at his belly, showing off the red burn mark left on his skin. He wasn't moving.

Julie gasped for air until she could hear again. Chuck was screaming.

Chuck was screaming! The world caught up to her fast, and she checked the sky above the alley. Kaia was in flight, and dangling from her leg was Chuck's unmistakable lanky silhouette. She threw her boomerang on instinct and tracked it as it arced into Kaia's side and sent them both plummeting. Julie had to get there, and fast! Her hands swept Mike's jacket collar until she found the mic for his comm, and she flipped it into tracking mode before sprinting for the nearest fire escape. She would have to gather him up later, once the dust had settled. Until then, Kaia was still an active threat.

Up on the rooftops, Chuck and Kaia landed hard. Hearing Mike scream sent her on the offense, and she had only just managed to wrestle the Burners off of her and take to the air before that cursed yellow bolt came out of nowhere. The boomerang hit her right in the ribs on one side, and she had the misfortune of coming down on her other. Chuck's grip never loosened, and even when she tried to get into the sky again, Chuck hooked his feet under a ledge and pulled back hard. Dutch jumped onto her back from behind. Before she could fully wrestle him off, Texas had her by the arm and pulled her crossbow from her wrist. Fury boiled in her blood.

"I am SICK of playing with you, _children_!" She planted her feet and caught Texas by the collar, throwing him over her shoulder and into Dutch. It was nothing to snap Chuck like a whip and send him skidding off to the other end of the roof. "MIKE! Get back up here!"

Julie scrambled over the side of the roof instead. "Mike's not coming!"

"JULIE!" Texas shouted and threw her boomerang handle back to her. "CATCH!"

A second too late, Kaia swiped at the air to catch it before Julie could. It flew past her, right into Julie's palm. Behind Kaia, the boys were pulling back onto their feet.

"We're never letting you get to Deluxe!" Julie shouted. "Just- give up already! We wrecked your village, we totaled Mutt, and Mike is- isn't coming back to help you! Your plan's over! We win!"

Kaia's third eye focused on something behind Julie before her main eyes did, and Kaia started to laugh low in her chest. "Did you now? Mike? Kill all of them."

"Mike?!" Julie's blood went cold. She looked over her shoulder and saw Mike's arm pulled back, staff ready to throw-

It flew over her head and straight into Kaia's forehead. It bounced up and over Julie while Kaia dropped to the roof, and Mike caught it singlehanded, panting and winded and soaking wet, not crying, not laughing.

"I," said Mike. " _Refuse_!"

" **YES**!" Chuck screamed.

"He did it!" Dutch wailed and punched at the air in triumph. The Burners jumped at the chance to get back to Mike, making a circle around Kaia's balled-up form. "You're back! What happened?!"

Mike spun his staff in his hands with precision, testing its weight in his palm and finding it perfect, before shrinking it back to a skull and tucking it into his pocket. He threw an arm over Julie and kept his eyes on Kaia as she curled on the roof in agony. "Amazing how a couple thousand volts can sober a guy up."

Julie laughed, relieved, and put an arm around Mike in return. "It's not a _thousand_."

"Whatever it was," explained Mike. "It hurt **way** worse than anything _she_ did to me." Mike jabbed an accusing finger at Kaia where she lie in a ball. "And I'm not scared of her hurting me any more."

It was like slow motion.

Kaia's wings tucked back into her shoulders, and in her hands was a blow gun.

She took a deep breath and blew into it.

A dart with a long needle and feathered tips flew out of the end.

It landed, and sunk deep into, the center of Mike's torso.

He sucked in a wet, gulping breath, and Mike could feel his organs shift against the needle of the dart before it just... crumbled, just kind of dissolved inside of him. All sorts of emotions hit him at once, all of them reflected in his friend's faces as he took a step back and clutched at the pinprick pain on his skin. Like the bite of an alley fly. Horrified. Sick to his stomach. Angry. Julie's arm burned against his back.

He managed "help..." before it all came crashing down on his ears at once. The pink fuzzy fog tore through his eyes and blinded him in pinpricks of neon noise and clawing light against his skin. He broiled in his coat, his teeth frozen together and cracked and ground under the pressure of his own tongue. The floor jumped up to attack his knees and his ears and arms, throwing him into the sky sideways and landing in a constant roll that never stopped, always rolling further away from the twisting shapes of his friends and the green, the terrible green of Kaia, who was shouting orders at him, every order all on repeat in his mind and into his ears until he couldn't tell the green noise from the black noise, her voice from Kane's in his head, telling him to kill them all, every single one.

Kaia managed one order before every Burner descended on her at once.

These were not the Burners at playtime, the good little kids that played hero. Julie's fist landed on her open eyes. Texas grappled her elbow and wrenched it back far enough for her shoulder to pop. Dutch pulled at hair until it fell out and went back for more, tearing the feathers out of her own wings. Boot heels landed in her kidneys, nails dug into her skin, and everywhere she felt a hand, real pain followed.

Something exploded in the far reaches of Motorcity, distracting the Burners long enough to her to pull her head away and look. Through swollen eyes, she made sense of the skyline, lined it up with her mental map and traced the explosion to a column of fire reaching nearly up to the Motorcity ceiling... where her village was supposed to be.

"No." That pillar of fire was her home. "No! NO!"

Kaia took to the sky on her battered wings and flew, and the Burners let her go. They fell to their knees in shock, watching the flames lick at the horizon as Kaia turned into a little dot in the light, a moth to her flame.


	6. Chapter 6

Good Boy, Mike

Disclaimer: Okay THIS should be the final chapter.

Mike woke up on the couch in the garage. Julie and Chuck were playing bridge with Jacob and Roth. He could hear video games. He was hungry. His limbs were heavy. He went through his memories, sorting out the real ones from the bad dream he was having...

He spoke with a voice too hoarse to be his. "Did I forget to pick up the pizza?"

His pillow grappled him, and suddenly every living person in the garage was looming over him. Chuck's hands swept over his face and checked his pulse at his neck, and Mike realized that the grappling pillow was all of Texas, and he was somehow asleep in his lap. "Um-"

"Mike," said Julie, very serious. "Tell us the last thing you remember, if you can."

"I was having this awful dream..." Mike tried to dredge up the details. "Something about bugs and I kept trying to hurt you guys, but-"

Chuck reached down and pulled up his shirt, and Mike was ready to ask him what the hell before he caught sight of the massive purple bruise across his gut right where the dart had landed. His memories shuffled back into a proper order in a painful hurry. Fear laced his blood like a cold poison that ran from his heart to his limbs. "THAT. I remember that. The needle broke off in my stomach, there's metal-"

"Easy, son, easy..." Jacob put a hand on his shoulder. "Roth and I checked you up and down and every way from Saturday. Whatever that thing was made out of dissolved as soon as it hit your soft tissue. You're clean... in that regard, anyway."

"Apparently he doesn't remember the last three times we had this conversation..." murmured Dutch.

"Hey Mike!" Texas said right into his ear. "Punch yourself in the face!"

Mike answered right back, "No!" The fact that he did caught up to him a few seconds after, and he grinned. The grin hurt, and memories came back in pieces of his fixed smile, and the waves of pink fuzz that went through his head and made him laugh until he destroyed his voice. The noise that came out of him was small, involuntary, and broken, and he cowered into Texas's shoulder.

"OH thank goodness..." Chuck dropped against the couch in a nearly dead faint. "He is clean..."

"I... I really did all of that..." Mike went through every memory, all perfectly clear now that his brain wasn't trying to shunt them off as a bad dream. His friend's terrified faces played back to him frame by frame, even if he shut his eyes and buried them into Texas's shoulder. "I tried to hurt all of you..."

"I'm getting some serious unfounded remorse vibes comin' from Tiny, guys," said Texas. "Time for a puppy pile."

"Puppy pil- guys- wait!" Mike called out into a shoulder. All the Burners pulled him into the center of a massive group hug and sat there, barely fitting onto the side of the couch. Mike put forth one protesting grunt before realizing how nice it felt and relaxing into it. Jacob stood apart from the massive pile of teens to smile approvingly, while Roth hovered overhead and brooded over the nest.

"The basic rundown," Julie explained. "Is that you were under some serious duress, and we're not holding you accountable for the smashed cars."

"We're just glad you're okay." Dutch ruffled his hair. "Now we can start feeding you normal food again!"

"Yeah, you were... way worse off for the last couple of days than you are now," said Chuck. "Julie had to sneak KaneCubes out of Deluxe for you to eat."

Mike licked the roof of his mouth. It was fuzzy like cotton and tasted like chalk. "Oh yeah. Tastes like bad memories. You couldn't serve me anything else?"

"It's uh..." Julie hesitated. "It was a lot easier to force-feed you KaneCubes than pizza."

The conversation died. Jacob watched them all from the edge of the couch while Mike let the words sink in. Force feed... the last couple of days... Mike swallowed hard. "We've really had this conversation already?"

"Sometimes you'd come back to your senses enough to talk," Dutch told him. His voice stayed low, so even it was almost robotic, and Mike knew he was trying hard not to let his thoughts creep into his tone. Roth kept a little paw on Dutch's shoulder the whole time. "But then you'd fall asleep, or we'd say something that was a little too close to a command, and you'd relapse back into a super freak out."

"Again, not holding that against you!" Julie explained. "Kaia hit you with a dose strong enough for Kane, and... well, Kane's got a lot of bulk on you. Guess she figured she could just do the plan again as long as you were under her control."

"And you guys were dead."

Julie winced. "Mike..."

"Sorry, just... gimme my hands back, guys." The Burners untangled Mike's arms from the puppy pile enough for him to pull them in for a proper hug. His eyes stung. His tears were coming, and they hurt, but at least now he didn't have to laugh through them. "Just a lot to unpack."

"Take your time, bro." Chuck pulled him close enough to nuzzle his forehead before releasing him. "You're here and you're alive. We've got all the time in the world."

"Clearance granted to leave the garage in four more days," said Texas. "And then another four days after before you're allowed out of Texas's presence. I have decided this."

"Pfft, you're not riding along in Mutt, if that's what you're thinking." Mike let himself have a little smirk, despite the soreness. "There'd be no room for Chuck."

"Hey, I'm fine with just staying in the garage with Mike until he's at a hundred percent," Chuck said with a giggle. "No driving, no thrills, no danger. And no more KaneCubes!"

Jacob stretched and clapped his hands together. "I'll have Antonio _deliver_ us a pizza."

Mike reached up and held the tiny mechanical paw where Roth was patting his hair. "Catch me up on everything I missed, guys! I still don't know what happened with Kaia. How'd you wind up taking her down?"

Far on the outskirts of Motorcity, away from hushed storytelling and worried glances, the Terras combed through their village in silence. Everything burned. From the scientists's best guesses, the fire in the lab went out of control once the villagers started throwing irradiated water on it. It ignited the raw potassium and sodium within the room, feeding the flames until they'd seeped deep into the dry roots in the ground. The walls of their canyon never seemed so high now that their trees, their mushrooms, were all reduced to ash upon the ground. Homes, food crops, feed for the deer... all of it gone. The only things left were the concrete rubble walls of old Detroit, scattered along the ground.

Ruins and one stupid crate of seeds, tossed down the cliffs on a parachute by the Burners with a single word written on the side: "Sorry."

Kaia's stomach turned at the sight, even now. Her people were strong and healed quickly, but the burn scars were still fresh upon their arms and faces. The mutated spores of their crossbows crept up their skin to feed on the damaged tissue, fusing them with their favored weapons permanently.

All because she had rushed the plan.

All because Mike Chilton and his Burners took her hard work and ruined it all.

She kicked at the ash under her feet, uncovering a little green prickle of thorns growing up from the toxic waste.

"Just you wait, Mike Chilton," Kaia hissed. "It's _personal_ now."


End file.
